Shelby County Schools leaders are considering further dipping into the district's savings account to cover more raises for teachers, student internships and programs to increase parent involvement.

Also on the proposed list of almost $11 million in additional investments for next year's budget is $4 million in soft costs for a new building for Goodlett Elementary.

If approved, along with a list of previously recommended investments, the district would spend about 40 percent of its rainy-day fund next year.

That would put the district's savings account at 5 percent of its general fund budget of $1 billion. That's below the credit rating agency Standard and Poor's recommendations of 8 to 15 percent.

Board member Chris Caldwell, who chairs the board's finance committee, said he's comfortable going below the S&P recommendation because that's generally for agencies worried about a bond rating. The school district doesn't have the authority to borrow money.

The state, he said, only requires the district to keep the equivalent of 2 percent of its general fund available in case of emergencies.

"I am comfortable lowering the fund balance, depending on what it's being spent for," he said.

The plan to pay for those investments was shifting $25 million from the fund balance, and asking the County Commission for roughly $13 million.

The new recommendations would up the amount taken out of savings to $36 million, depleting the $88 million fund balance by about 40 percent.

The request to the county would remain the same, Chief Financial Officer Lin Johnson said.

Board members have yet to vote on the budget, but expressed support for the original $38 million of investments. Johnson presented the additional $11 million to the board's finance committee Tuesday.

Caldwell said the board will discuss the proposals further before a vote and before presenting the budget to the county commission. He said SCS may have more luck getting additional money out of the commission if the district spends its own money first.

"They’ve commented several times that our fund balance is too high," Caldwell said.

Raises for all teachers

The proposed $11 million includes $3.5 million for teacher raises. The district already proposed raises for teachers receiving high evaluation scores, which is usually over 90 percent of teachers.

But the additional $3.5 million, Johnson said, would mean every teacher would receive a 3-percent raise.

Tikeila Rucker, president of the United Education Association of Shelby County, said the unions have urged the district to move away from a merit-based pay system and give raises across the board.

"It's great that they are considering going in that direction," she said, noting she is worried the recommendation is coming based on the failures of TNReady testing. Those test scores are usually used to help evaluate teachers, determining whether they receive a raise.

But statewide failures with the online testing system the last three weeks resulted in the legislature outlawing the use of those results in grading students or teachers.

The district has not given a reason for its change in recommendation regarding who should receive a raise. While TNReady testing issues the last three weeks derailed the use of scores in compensation decisions,other components factor into annual evaluations to measure teacher performances.

More community resources for students

Of the $11 million of additional proposed investments, $500,000 would go to increasing internship opportunities for students. Another $1 million would help increase the number of partnerships the district has with organizations or businesses in the community.

Chief of Communications Natalia Powers said the goal is to provide additional resources for students.

"It’s important so we can address all components of that social emotional piece," she said.

Another $900,000 would be spent increasing engagement with parents. Some schools, Powers said, have more consistent relationships with parents than others.

"We realize that as a district we can’t do these things alone, and we need to have a specific strategy about how we’re improving our parent involvement across the district," she said.

Public meetings

Board members will hold three public meetings on the budget over the next three weeks.